Electron multiplier



Dec- 15, l942 H. G. LuBszYNsKl 2,305,179

ELBCTRON MULT IPLI ER Filed May 24, 1959 INVEN TOR. HA NS GERHARD LUBSZYNSK Patented Dec. 15, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELEc'raoN iv'rUL'rxrmER Great Britain Application May 24, i933, Serial No. 275,402 In Great Britain May 27, 1938 (Cl. Z50-175) 3 Claims.

This invention relates to electron multipliers of the so-called picture type, that is to say, a multiplier in which an image of an object is projected onto an electron-emitting surface and the primary electrons emitted from such surface are focused onto a secondary emitting-electrode causing the emission of a greater number oi seeondary electrons than incident primary electrons so that, in effect, the picture is amplified. Any suitable number of amplifying stages may be employed and the resultant amplied image may be focused onto a viewing screen or onto a suitable form of mosaic screen which may be scanned to generate signals suitable, for example, for television transmission, or, alternatively, the electron image may be utilised in other ways, such as in the manner of the so-called image dissector.

In the form of picture multiplier Where ,the secondary-emitting electrodes are in the forni' of grids, as described in the speclcation of U. 8. application No. 82.300, which issued as U.=.S. Patent 2,227,097 on December 3l, 1940, it is *Iound that the amplied image is considerably blurred. This is due to the fact that some of the primary electrons are` not intercepted by' agrld and 'are consequently out oificcus inftheplane .of Vthe next grid or in the plane oi the flnal.screen.

.It-is the object of .the presentinvention to .provide an improved electron multiplier of the picture type with .a view to avoiding or reducing this disadvantage. A- V r l It is known that when electrons are focused by a magnetic focusing coil generating a substantially homogeneous axially symmetrical magnetic iieid, the electrons follow helical paths and when the electrons have described one complete revolution they are in a focused condition. In a magnetic eld the electrons maytraverse several foci and providing a focal point is in the plane of an electrode the electrons will eectively be in focus at the plane. It has been found possible in electron picture multipliers that by so choosing the strength of the magnetic held the potential differences between the electrodes of the device and the relative distances oi the electrodes. the electrons which are not intercepted by one grid can oe brought into focus on the next grid after de- ;criblng integral numbers ot revolutions wherey the disadvantage resulting from a blurred :ackground mentioned above can be reduced.

According to the invention an electron picture nultiplier arrangement oi the grid type is provided in which the primary and secondary elecrons are focussed by a. homogeneous magnetic leid acting over substantially the entire length :i the multiplier and in which the iield strength i the magnetic iield, the potential differences etween the electrodes of the multiplier and the tistances between the cathode and multiplying grid or grids and the ilnal screen are so chosen that the primary electrons which are not intercepted by the iirst secondaryemitting grid impinge on the next grid or screen after describing integral numbers of revolutions so that they are eiectively in focus on the said next grid or screen.

In this manner the secondary electron image on the second grid and the unintercepted primary electrons on the second grid can be maintained in focus thus obtaining a final image which is substantially free from a, blurred background. 'l'he invention may be applied to successive stages of picture multiplication but in most cases it will not be found necessary to re-iocus the primary electrons over more than two stages of amplification since the secondary electron current will by thenbe so'large compared with the unintercepted primary current that the latter .will be negligible. A j

lIn order that the invention may be clearly under's lEiland.readily.'carried into` eiIect it will now. with reference to the l ccpmpanying'drawiiig :which illustrates diagra -oneion of picture'inultipller in ascendance withthe As shown, the device .'oniprises an evacuated envelope having an Velectronemitting cathode P, founmulltiplying grid electrodes, G1, G1, Ga, G4 and,a al screen S which may be a screen adapted to be rendered luminous under the .impact of electrons. a mosaic screen or any other sutableform of image-utilising screen. Surrounding the envelope' oft rthe device is a magnetic/focusing coil C extending along the whole length ofthe Venvelope and'generating a homogenous-axiallyfsymmetrical focusing eld. In accordance with the invention the eld strength of thecoil, the .potential diiierence between the electrodes l?, Gi, G2, G3. G4 and S and the distances between the various electrodes are chosen so that primary electrons released i rom the cathode B-are brought to focus on the electrode G1. those electrons which are -not intercepted bythe grid G1 are brought to focus on the grid G2, the secondary electrons released from the electrode G1 are brought to focus on the grid G1, the secondary electrons from the grid G1 which are not intercepted by the grid Ga are brought to a focus on the grid Gs. and so on.

For the purpose of determining the relative values of the potentials to be applied to the electrodes and the spacing between the electrodes to an elementary approximation the following formulae have been derived.

The ratio of the potential differences between successive electrodes of the group P, Gx. G2, G3, G4 and S is derived from the formula AV 4 TKT? i" where AV is the potential difference in volts between the two adjacent electrodes,

AU is the potential difference in volts between the preceding electrode and the first of said adjacent electrodes,

p is any positive integer, and

q is any integer greater than p except in the case of the first stage. Although it is preterable for p and q to be integers, satisfactory results may be obtained, with perhaps a slight loss in definition, where p and q are not integers but vary therefrom to an extent about 0.3.

In the physical aspect of this formula p-I is the number oi focal planes lying between a pair of adjacent electrodes for those electrons emanating from said preceding electrode and not impinging on the first of the adjacent electrodes and q-I is the number of focal planes lying between the said pair of adjacent electrodes for those electrons emanating from said rst electrode.

The spacing Am in centimetres between two adjacent electrodes is derived from the following formula:

where q is the integer aforesaid, AV is the aforesaid potential difl'erence and H is the field strength in Gauss of the magnetic focusing neld.

As the secondary emission curves of most materials show a definite maximum, the aim is to keep the voltages/stage more or less constant at values which correspond to the maximum of the curve. Furthermore. as the stages distance As: increases with p it will be advantageous to choose p as small as possible. i. e., p=1. The Product f the values of the voltage ratio for q=2 and Q=3 is then 1.78x0.56=1. Therefore, for alternate stages q=2 and q=3 may be chosen.

In the last stage there should be a large potential difference in order to make the electrons strike the screen at a high velocity. This could either be achieved by making p large, for instance, p=3; q=4; then the stage distance would, however, become rather large. For the high voltage employed in the last stage the chromatic aberration would, however, remain fairly small without focusing if only the distance could be made small enough. This would at the same time reduce the overall length of the system and simplify the design of the focusing coil. For example, in the device shown in the drawing with four multiplying grids the field strength of the coil C may be 500 Gauss and the potential differences and the spacing between the electrodes may be as follows:

Stage p q AV Ax l 300 0. 37 2 535 l 3 800 l. l 2 535 l 4 6, 370 d 7 It may be possible to dispense with focusing in the last stage and to reduce A315 to 0.5 cm., thereby saving 6 cm., in length of the system. The circle of chromatic confusion introduced by the last stage would, however, be increased from 4.5.10-3 mm. to 0.35 mm.

The above statements and formulae are based on elementary considerations and it is found in practice that discrepancies arise between experimental results and the results to be expected from the formulae above given. These discrepancies are due to the fact that the emissive energies of the secondary electrons are not negligibly small and give rise to two kinds of aberration, namely, spherical aberration due to the angular distribution of emissive velocities of the electrons with constant emissive energy and chromatic aberration due to the statistical distribution of emissive energies. Consequently, all electrons emitted from a point are not refocused to a point. although as is to be expected, there is a disc of least confusion.

It is found that in order to reduce the discrepancies above mentioned, it is necessary to introduce correction factors into the Equations 1 and 2 above, which take into consideration the emissive energies of the secondary electrons. It is found that the relative values of the potentials to be applied to the electrodes and the spacing between the electrodes when taking into consideration the emissive velocities of the secondary electrons is as follows:

The equation corresponding to Equation 1 above is In this equation the significance of the characters is as described above and v is the most probable emissive energy in electron-volts. yIf the electrons from the previous stage have negligibly small emissive energy, if they are, for instance, photo-electrons, the ratio of the potential diierences of successive electrodes is These Equations 3 and 4 show that the potential ratio of successive stages no longer depends on p and q only but also on the ratio v/AU. They are based on the assumption that the distribution of emissive energies of the secondary electrons closely approximates the Maxwellian distribution for low velocities.

The spacing An: in centimetres between twc adjacent electrodes corresponding to Equation i above is 10.57291? v Ax= H (1+ 1.13m-, (5

potential diierences and the spacing between the electrodes may be as follows:

I claim:

1. An electron multiplier picture tube comprising an elongated envelope having therein a photo-sensitive cathode at one end, a target electrode at the other end, a plurality of secondary electron emssive grid electrodes substantially adjacent said photosensitive cathode and spaced from the said target electrode, and magnetic eld producing means substantially surrounding and extending longitudinally of the envelope for a distance substantially coextensive with the distance separating the photosensitive cathode and the target, said eld producing means being adapted when electrically energized to develop a substantially axially symmetrical homogeneous magnetic eld along the axis of and throughout said envelope.

2. An electron multiplier picture tube comprising an elongated envelope having therein a photosensitive cathode at one end, a target electrode at the other end, a plurality of substantially parallelly positioned secondary electron emissive electrodes substantially adjacent and parallel to said photosensitive cathode and spaced from and parallelly positioned relative to the target electrode, said secondary electron emissive grid electrodes being unequally spaced from each other, and magnetic field producing means substantially surrounding and extending longitudinally of the envelope for a distance substantially coextensve with the dista-nce separating the photosensitive cathode and the target, said eld producing means being adapted when electrically energized to develop a substantially axially symmetrical homogeneous magnetic eld along the axis of and throughout said envelope.

3. An electron multiplier picture tube comprising an elongated envelope having therein a photosensitive cathode at one end, a target electrode at the other end, a plurality of secondary electron emissive grid electrodes substantially adjacent said photosensitive cathode and spaced from the said target electrode, and magnetic field producing means substantially surrounding and extending longitudinally of the envelope for a distance substantially coextensive with the distance separating the photosensitive cathode and the target, said field producing means being adapted when electrically energized to develop a substantially axially symmetrical homogeneous magnetic field along the axis of and throughout said envelope, and terminal connections to all of said electrode members for applying energizing potentials thereto.

HANS GERHARD LUBSZYNSKI. 

